John EricsonFirst, it’s worth looking back at the “before” post to see the transformation.
My original idea was to rebuild this early valved horn, missing many key parts, into a working, small bore early valved horn. But the elements I had did not come together right, and I came around to the idea of using the Glassl bell and a few other parts to make a nice natural horn.
And it did come out nice.
(The yellow mouthpiece, one I keep in the shop for testing horns, is for a colorful sound).
One interesting thing, to me, I’ll note first. This morning I measured this horn and the “H” French bell natural horn, comparing them to my Courtois/Seraphinoff/Ericson horn. The result was the “H” bell horn body is almost exactly the same length as the Courtois, and this horn is maybe 1/2 inch shorter. Amazingly close to the same dimension, which makes me very comfortable as I get ready to make crooks for both horns, I will copy the Courtois crooks.
There were some final details to sort out. The angle of the main slide is not typical, which meant that I had no clear model to follow. Eventually I opted for the bracing scheme seen now, which (to my mind) lines up visually with the reverse main slide, for a unique look.
First impressions is the horn plays really nicely, sounds really nice too. The high range is not as good as the Courtois or the “H” bell horn, and I’m hoping to use a different mouthpipe taper than I have, which might line up better with the “Bohemian” bell.
In any case, it was enjoyable to rebuild a wall hanger in poor condition into a nice, working natural horn.
This is kind of an aside, but I post periodically to Instagram, mostly videos of natural horn or early valved horn. I’d estimate that the natural horn videos get at least 4X the engagement of the early valved horn videos, speaking to the ability of the natural horn to grab attention today.
For now, I’m hoping to have both of the natural horn projects finished for students to play on in the fall. Eventually, these will most likely go to friends or former students. Making horns is not my business but I do enjoy it and I’ll keep my eyes peeled for other basket-case horns that have similar potential.